Callista Gingrich awaits nomination to Vatican ambassadorship

Reportedly, President Donald Trump will name Callista Gingrich, the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to serve as the United States’ ambassador to the Holy See within the next few weeks. While she has been favored to win the appointment as diplomatic representative to the Vatican, her nomination had been held up pending approval from the Office of Government Ethics, according to CNN.

Callista is the third wife of Newt Gingrich. She is credited for leading Newt to join the Catholic Church. According to their blog, the pair met Pope Francis briefly at the Vatican in 2014. In January, shortly after Trump was inaugurated, Newt said, “She’s under consideration” for the ambassadorship.

There have been expectations at the White House that Callista Gingrich would be nominated before Trump goes to Rome on May 24 to meet the pontiff at the Vatican, and to visit the president of Italy. Pope Francis said he will not pass judgment on Trump in advance of the visit.

“Topics will emerge in our conversations. I will say what I think, and he will say what he thinks. But I have never wanted to make a judgment without first listening to the person,” Francis told reporters on Saturday. “Even if one thinks differently we have to be very sincere about what each one thinks,” Francis said.